tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40246184703573281012024-03-05T08:26:22.097-08:00Music, BitchesTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-6488472630678800132008-12-13T11:49:00.001-08:002008-12-13T11:50:25.262-08:00The Raincoats - The Raincoats<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9kGjLB1NoymFNee3jE2USmWbs9kDB91zsOhBMpgoFW9Lckg0xq99pKNKb8ZEr3_3m3khhmnbL4AJ-XRtunepcBytRfcyxDewqAPQIdN9WJ1CYne7UjlErm2aywEp6xAoZcuj85HFszWn/s1600-h/raincoats+s-t.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 298px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9kGjLB1NoymFNee3jE2USmWbs9kDB91zsOhBMpgoFW9Lckg0xq99pKNKb8ZEr3_3m3khhmnbL4AJ-XRtunepcBytRfcyxDewqAPQIdN9WJ1CYne7UjlErm2aywEp6xAoZcuj85HFszWn/s320/raincoats+s-t.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279364420893235026" /></a><br />This album is just a fairytale in the supermarket. This album must be imaginary, it's still a singularity that reality hasn't quite figured out how to deal with. <br /><br /> There's obviously a lot of neo-Marxist/Feminist themes running through here, which is refreshing, but it's really all about the praxis. Say what you will about how “musically skilled” these musicians are, they make some really compelling music. Really, each one of these songs is brilliant. If you dare deny that, I would say you're listening to music with all the wrong organs! <br /><br /> And it's so ramshackle. There's none of that bullshit equilibrium you get so much of in other music. Whereas in some songs every instrument is perfectly in time with the others, and so creates the illusion of a fixed point moving in time, the fixed point here is entirely virtual. It is a strange attractor that all the voices struggle to reach or struggle to slow down towards. As such, all the instruments are always clamoring for that supreme unity but never attaining it. No one member of the band defines it, because there is a fierce egalitarianism in operation. Now isn't that a much better metaphor for life than all the other music you've been taught to appreciate because of its simulated perfection?<br /><br /> Did I mention they do a cover of “Lola”? Yeah, it's great.<br /><br /> About the music itself, this is “post-punk.” Post-punk is just the logical progression of punk, in that it assumes the same goal of deconstructing music but takes it one step further (the step into “The Void”). This particular album sounds like a mix between The Shaggs and The Ramones, if you don't mind me referring to one artist more obscure and one more popular to provide a popular definition. You have everything you could want: brass, strings, bass, drums, guitar, and girls, girls, girls! Really, this is an album for everyone, especially people who love/hate music.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-82793630656439553162008-12-13T11:44:00.001-08:002008-12-13T11:46:51.468-08:00Deerhunter - Microcastle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheUIpAI3XRge6TRmfgtUrKqvWGAe6jPvzR9YxQDEadwakZwsN8H6SYI0N45oeid0vI1n5B4PSW5x18VzzeAASNTxd3SaazUXswQQ31dozsRDeyKmQFIz_0du324aL0XZgM2lRcrJI60lXE/s1600-h/deerhunter+microcastle.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheUIpAI3XRge6TRmfgtUrKqvWGAe6jPvzR9YxQDEadwakZwsN8H6SYI0N45oeid0vI1n5B4PSW5x18VzzeAASNTxd3SaazUXswQQ31dozsRDeyKmQFIz_0du324aL0XZgM2lRcrJI60lXE/s320/deerhunter+microcastle.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279363495126660706" /></a><br />This album works because it likes all the same albums I do. It appreciates Mission of Burma, Joy Division, The Byrds, Richard Thompson, Brian Eno, Slowdive, etc. It's a synthesis the likes of which I have never seen before: it goes through all your favorite records and identifies the peaks, then cuts them out and pastes them all together into a collage of everything that is the best about all the music you already love. As such, it is one of the most depressing albums I've heard in a while.<br /><br /> Not only does it refer back to all your favorite music, it even refers to itself. So contemporary it's contemporary of itself! Microcastle... everything has been digitized, synthesized, reduced in size, and fit into a box. After all, a castle is just a glorified box. As is a computer, or an album, or a womb...<br /><br /> But I digress. This album is like a river. Like the river of life. It ebbs and flows, it brings you to a new high and to a new low. But it is not this straight-forward, it must pay its tribute to irony. Irony, which is the guiding force of our new lives. Irony in that the highest points are also the lowest, such as on “Nothing Ever Happened,” which climaxes after the line “I never saw it coming, waiting for something from nothing.” A self-defeating anti-climax, in an age where we rely on technology for most of our climaxes. So what's this? Why won't Cox deliver? What is with his apathetic, disinterested vocal delivery and his depressing lyrics? Can't he go be depressed somewhere else?<br /><br /> That's not it at all. This album is, first and foremost, a mirror of our times. Our new synthesis is not one of making disparaging styles click together, it is one of breaking down the ideas which supported those styles and then throwing everything together until it is easily manufactured and reproduced. Music isn't marketable unless it fits a template or reduces previous music into a template. This album does that so well it's incredible, but at the same time, it does so with an air of melancholy and irony. It has to rely on the past, because what is there to rely on now? “Saved by Old Times,” expresses that sentiment perfectly. The past still provides an aura of meaning, whereas our present provides only disillusion and unreality.<br /><br /> This album is an experience. It divides between the really catchy song-songs, like “Agoraphobia,” “Little Kids,” “Never Stops,” “Nothing Ever Happened,” and “Saved By Old Times,” and the other songs which are more ambient mood pieces. It's tempting at first to say, oh well there's the singles and the other crap that fills it up. But the transition between them is really impeccable, and both are completely necessary to complete the “feeling” of the album. That completely enveloping mood, what I like to refer to Baudrillard for and call “melancholy and fascination,” the dominant ethos of our times. It's always a back and forth of breaking down our musical systems and then running back to them. That is essentially the loop we are trapped in. But doesn't it sound great? Or at least... fascinating?Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-72095389793062222512008-12-09T14:47:00.000-08:002008-12-09T14:50:38.942-08:00Arvo Part - Te Deum<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9eycNt_tvdZ5jfv5XMXAyrR2ZrWeur4RCHBVTSD3t_gs9RKk28GIY7RRlY3Tg0yE2gOsRtlHHY2AK6T4aHy-DVfdS_nteugL3t_JGKVDs4XPTqq1aPjJgLnBbW_S_Hmky_HMI71fzv7v/s1600-h/arvo+part+te+deum.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9eycNt_tvdZ5jfv5XMXAyrR2ZrWeur4RCHBVTSD3t_gs9RKk28GIY7RRlY3Tg0yE2gOsRtlHHY2AK6T4aHy-DVfdS_nteugL3t_JGKVDs4XPTqq1aPjJgLnBbW_S_Hmky_HMI71fzv7v/s320/arvo+part+te+deum.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277926490357681218" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><p face="georgia" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">What is minimalism? What drives it?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: georgia;"> John Cage said, “I have nothing to say, and I am saying it.” Whereas other forms of music rely on various devices to convey emotions and themes, minimalism seems content to express nothing. Or does it, rather, use its own devices to express nothingness? </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: georgia;"> Western philosophy always begins with the reality of being. “I think, therefore I am.” All truths are contingent on this duality of existence and perception. The 50's and 60's were a turbulent time; everyone was still reacting to the horrors of WWII and the formation of the Soviet Union. In the art world, Dada, Surrealism, and abstract art continued to demand a response. Every artist took it upon himself to smash every necessary truth he could find. And the most primal of these is that of being. Thus, many minimalists turned to Eastern philosophy. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: georgia;"> Buddhism and Taoism, when specifically contrasted against most trends in Western philosophy, take an inverted approach. Rather than start with the conception of being, they begin with the idea of absolute nothingness. This idea is much less familiar to us than being. To form a conception of nothingness is to negate it. And yet, as wise men tell us, it lurks beneath everything.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: georgia;"> 1952 saw the first performance of 4'33”. Many were outraged when the musical performance they paid for just ended up being four and a half minutes of silence. John Cage, however, denied any such thing. The human mind does not have access to absolute silence. John Cage wanted his audience to realize that although the performance they were seeing was one of <i>nothing</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, it was nonetheless a performance. Even though nothing was played, sound still filled the room. Something had still happened.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-family: georgia;"> What everyone expected from the performance was a drama. Each sound is supposed to be an actor, working to increase or resolve the central conflict. Minimalism strips music of its illusions. A sound is simply a sound, and should be appreciated on that level. To assign meaning to certain sounds, to interpret abstract music, is to look away from life and to enter into the game we have draped over it.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-family: georgia;"> Minimalism is about the journey, not the destination. No future moment in the music will justify what you are hearing right now; each moment is its own justification. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Where does this piece of music fit in? Arvo P</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ärt's music is often described as “sacred minimalism.” But how does all the drama of religion sneak into minimalism without tearing it apart? Although minimalism sacrifices many elements of the drama, it most often retains tonality. Pärt finds God in the trinity of tonality, the triad. He uses a technique he calls t</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="">intinnabulum, whereby the three notes of the triad ring out like bells, and form the foundation of the piece. The drama now consists in sounds pulling themselves out of the void, in the patches of silence that tend to subsume everything, and in the divine relationship between pure tones.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-family: georgia;"> Is this a cop-out? Has minimalism been torn from staring into the abyss to contemplating the infinite? For me there is no difference. Steve Reich was fond of Pärt's compositions, and said that they filled an essential human need. According to Reich they missed the zeitgeist of the times, but thereby generated their own appeal. This music is on many levels a reaction—a response to the detachment of atonality as well as the excesses of Romanticism. But more than this it is an affirmation. Arvo Pärt went through a long period of silence. Like John Cage, he may have come to the conclusion that the artist betrays himself by speaking. Ultimately, however, something led him to compose—and the results are divine.</p> Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-82319208526758292232008-07-11T16:46:00.000-07:002008-07-11T16:48:32.187-07:00Playlist 6<span style="font-size:180%;">Madness, they Called It.<br />Madness</span><br /><br />1.Scritti Politti – Jacques Derrida<br /><br />Composed more of non-musicians than performers, Scritti Politti were a band/collective formed in the late 70's alongside the initial post-punk movement, but rather than stand in stark contrast to dance music like many of their peers, they wholeheartedly embraced it and combined it with their folky/commie roots plus a jerky post-punk sense of rhythm. Simultaneously embracing and declaring war on pop culture, “Jacques Derrida” conceals sinister intent from the unscrutinizing pop listener. And it sure as hell is catchy, despite some prerequisite post-punk abrasiveness.<br /><br />2.Joan of Arc – Happy 1984 and 2001<br /><br />Joan of Arc offer a quick glimpse into the mind of a conspiracy theory paranoiac: ripe with folky acoustic guitar picking, numbingly noisy synths, and delirious elliptical chanting. It lies somewhere in the dead zone between soothing and disturbing.<br /><br />3.My Bloody Valentine – Map Ref<br /><br />My Bloody Valentine reinterpret the classic track from Wire's 154, turning it into an instant shoegaze classic. Wire's early 80's fluid guitar sound transforms from glimmering sheen into a swirling cloud of feedback and overtones, as Kevin's murmurings bleed into Belinda's, transforming Colin Newman's dreamy meanderings into pure bliss.<br /><br />4.Arto Lindsay – Q Samba<br /><br />What can you expect the work of an artist whose background includes a childhood in Brazil, No Wave, and “fake jazz” to sound like? With Arto Lindsay you can't really expect anything. This particular song infuses Tropicala with fat, noisy synths and smooth vocals delivering absurd lyrics. It compels you to dance self-mockingly.<br /><br />5.The Ex + Tom Cora – King Commie<br /><br />Tom Cora's cello gives fluidity to The Ex's staggered rhythms, and matches them in their most free-form meltdown moments. Punk and screeched folk vocals collide over an aggressive art rock backdrop. The Ex, an anarchist band from the Netherlands, are matched perhaps only by The Fall as still-surviving still-shit-upfucking amazing bands from the first era of punk/post-punk.<br /><br />6.Miles Davis – Black Satin<br /><br />Black Satin is so angular and in your face that I find it impossible not to love. From its compulsive stop-start bassline, to the absolutely deconstructed drum spasms, to the horns which introduce melodic structure and then turn it into a swirling, noisy mess. I hear the angular funk of James Chance and Gang of Four in this, I hear the sonic assault of Public Enemy, and even the structure-breakdown-structure form often presented by Sonic Youth. <br /><br />7.Sun City Girls – Esoterica of Abyssynia<br /><br />Psychedelic Arabic garage rock? That's the best description I can come up with. There's something about Sir Richard Bishop's all-encompassing guitar playing that breaks down the walls between musical forms and turns Sun City Girl's lo-fi avant-rock into something simultaneously universal and otherworldly.<br /><br />8.No Neck Blues Band – Boreal Gluts<br /><br />This song would probably work well as the soundtrack to several scenes in Cannibal Holocaust. Dark tribal jazzy improv that sounds like it drifted in from another world.<br /><br />9.Old Time Relijun – Witchcraft Rebellion<br /><br />You take a little Jon Spencer, a little James Chance, and add a touch of Beefheart, what do you get? A schizoid group like Old Time Relijun. Witchcraft Rebellion comes complete with driving bassline and drums, squelching horns, and atonal Trout Mask-esque guitar freakouts. You can see the coven dancing madly around the fire orgiastically worshiping Satan and exploring the limits of carnal knowledge and whatnot.<br /><br />10.Tuxedomoon – The Fifth Column<br /><br />Creepy synths + creepy jazz = ? Excellent mood music, textural journey very much like David Bowie's ambient work, saved by the excellent horn playing from sounding too dated.<br /><br />linik: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ie1f8mTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-28862039778551326952008-07-09T23:07:00.000-07:002008-07-09T23:18:49.551-07:00AlchemyThe Incredible Flying Torture Orchestra would be honored to introduce new and exciting patterns of movement to the air in your room. Alchemy is best enjoyed alone and in the dark.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgYY1x9AO69bkT-ot2Gt_rXcfftIUbtuyubEE82JHaRnEsnqXZZekXWZ-2M4_E_5qoAebKRu-W8IbzkjCzOpa4bYGZqNHjfQaq3eQBpOKTPOuDYZbWJ1wTxUHQiEfs7rnlw_QA0d_A5Ylz/s1600-h/Alchemy.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgYY1x9AO69bkT-ot2Gt_rXcfftIUbtuyubEE82JHaRnEsnqXZZekXWZ-2M4_E_5qoAebKRu-W8IbzkjCzOpa4bYGZqNHjfQaq3eQBpOKTPOuDYZbWJ1wTxUHQiEfs7rnlw_QA0d_A5Ylz/s320/Alchemy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221263987635969506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tracklist:<br /></span>1. Sentinel<br />2. The Deep End<br />3. Stolen Leeps<br />4. From Here To Nowhere<br />5. Frog Playing Piano<br />6. Just Sit Still<br />7. Sand Turns to Glass<br />8. The Drumboy<br />9. The Lloigor<br />10. Ascension<br />11. No Reprieve<br />12. Interlewd<br />13. On The Shore<br />14. Sentinel<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.last.fm/music/The+Incredible+Flying+Torture+Orchestra/Alchemy">Free download</a>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-76154419658114174152008-04-22T20:58:00.000-07:002008-07-09T23:19:36.515-07:00Your Majesty, May I Present...The eponymous debut from The Incredible Flying Torture Orchestra!<br />I know you've all been waiting for it, so get it NOW, HERE, FREE,<br />before you can't get it anywhere else. It's been described as droopy,<br />psychedelic, post-modern, electric, and swankalicious, all by me, just now.<br /><br />Here it is:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FoujChTJIiwd9a6NvecCgnrwTbhYgkRuQ7pLHQmZRIgDlr9VMQMq3c5cXV00YCH_h4N6ngStPsNjnI-rD6TtKK60fU6bFcgSvBiDth8CC6H6HIZvCqsHWKhyphenhyphenz980WFZL7X6XeuZtshxg/s1600-h/TIFTO-ALBUM-COVER.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FoujChTJIiwd9a6NvecCgnrwTbhYgkRuQ7pLHQmZRIgDlr9VMQMq3c5cXV00YCH_h4N6ngStPsNjnI-rD6TtKK60fU6bFcgSvBiDth8CC6H6HIZvCqsHWKhyphenhyphenz980WFZL7X6XeuZtshxg/s320/TIFTO-ALBUM-COVER.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221264976655461490" border="0" /></a><br /><b>Track Listing</b><br />1. Your Majesty<br />2. Heaven Sinks<br />3. Intergalactic Moped<br />4. Jesus is Alive<br />5. Punctual Piano<br />6. Psychic Pushers<br />7. Unease<br />8. Glee<br />9. Severed and Fragmented<br />10. Dirty Shoes<br />11. Nail Under Bach's Blood<br />12. Something Going on Nothing<br /><br /><a href="http://www.last.fm/music/The+Incredible+Flying+Torture+Orchestra/The+Incredible+Flying+Torture+Orchestra">free download here</a>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-64804958510445331672008-03-13T13:21:00.000-07:002008-03-13T13:23:37.685-07:00Playlist 11<span style="font-weight: bold;">America is Waiting</span><br />pretty dark<br /><br />1. M83 - America<br />2. Sun City Girls - Voice of America #2<br />3. Yo La Tengo - We're An American Band<br />4. Meat Puppets - Mother American Marshmallow<br />5. Living Colour - Which Way to America?<br />6. Wipers - Youth of America<br />7. Agent Orange - America<br />8. The Ex - Stupid Americans<br />9. Reagan Youth - Miss Teen America<br />10. Big Black - The Ugly American<br />11. Ex Models - Buy American<br />12. Trans Am - American Kooter<br />13. Thurston Moore - American Coffin<br />14. Fred Frith - Voice of America Part 4<br /><br />link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/tctknoTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-50035371060755434402008-03-08T00:41:00.000-08:002008-03-08T00:42:05.190-08:00another playlist<span style="font-size:6;">lord of the flies</span><br /><i>here's a nice little sampler of some<br />straight up<br />scuzzed out<br />rock and roll<br /><br />enjoy</i><br /><br />1. The Homosexuals - Flying<br />has the swagger of glam rock but all the anger and attitude<br />of punk... basically what you'd expect from a band called the homosexuals<br /><br />2. The Misfits - Return of the Fly<br />danzig's vocals at their peak, it's so retro and yet still so forward looking<br />there's just something really incredible about it to me<br /><br />3. Wire - I Am The Fly<br />dark perfection<br /><br />4. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Firefly Child<br />so scuzzy and sleazy you can hardly believe it. masterful<br /><br />5. Melvins - Eye Flys<br />such a representative early melvins song... it takes five minutes to build up (just to see if you can make it) and then spends about a minute and a half rocking out but in typical restrained madman fashion<br /><br />6. Cherubs - Venus Flytrap<br />noise rock not in the sharp, jagged big black sense of the term, but rather punk rock washed over in feedback (also, was xtc playing in the background the whole time?)<br /><br />7. Erase Errata - Walk Don't Fly<br />more jagged noise rock, great chick vocals<br /><br />8. Grinderman - Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)<br />approaches birthday party greatness<br /><br />9. The Cramps - Human Fly<br />you know when the crazy people in the movies sit in their straight jackets and shake violently back and forth? this is the song playing in their head.<br /><br />10. Mudhoney - Butterfly Stroke<br />yay grunge<br /><br />linK:http://www.sendspace.com/file/zm4x95Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-44828897214399718772008-03-08T00:39:00.000-08:002008-03-08T00:43:57.251-08:00Playlist eight r summn<span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Time is the Master</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">1. Pink Floyd - Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This song is so chilling. I love the lyrics, but they depress the **** out of me. I think a lot of these songs have a similar theme, but never presented quite so clearly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">2. The Pop Group - We Are Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Heavily dub-influenced post-punk, similar to PiL but better, imo.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">3. Polvo - Time Isn't On My Side</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Hmm which song coming up on the playlist is this a play on? Just another perfect song off Today's Active Lifestyles...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">4. Prefuse 73 - Back in Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The sample at the start says it perfectly... "What I didn't want to do was record rappers rapping over a beat... I was really looking for something that was a bit more classic... and go backwards in time."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">5. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Right on Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The dichotomy on this track is emblematic of their progression up to Californication... they switch between angular funk rock and catchy pop at the drop of a hat. I really love the subtle synth bass line too, such a groovy and fun track.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">6. The Residents - Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Taken from the mind-blowing album "God in Three Persons," though probably the least representative track since it is instrumental.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">7. The Rolling Stones - Time is On My Side</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Always reminds me of </span><i style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Fallen</i><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">. Lovely tune.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">8. The Roots - Long Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Why can't all rap be like this?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">9. Roxy Music - A Really Good Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The title doesn't lie.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">10. Scratch Acid - Damned For All Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Jazzy/funky noise rock! It doesn't get any better.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">11. The Pagans - Haven't Got the Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Really classic catchy hardcore.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">12. Bad Religion - Doing Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">See above.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">13. Skip Spence - This Time He Has Come</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">And this is what schizophrenia sounds like.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">14. The Stooges - Real Cool Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Iggy howls.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">15. Sonic Youth - I Love Her All The Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Iggy's howls echo into this song, but then Thurston Moore kills his idol with a love song. This might just be my favorite love song, actually.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">16. Spahn Ranch - Each Time Centered</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Dark, propulsive post-punk. Great instrumental track.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">17. Caspar Brotzmann Massaker - Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Caspar Brotzmann has a really unique style of playing, which I'm sure could put some off but I absolutely love it. Like his father, the legendary saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, he's obsessed with timbre... Much of his playing is largely textural, though he's obviously a skilled player. Look out for the group this band's name is an homage to later in the playlist.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">18. The United States - Stranded in Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Just a catchy little pop tune from the legendary psychedelic band. Very Kinky. Uh.. Kinksy. You know what I mean.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">19. X - Some Other Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">OoooOOooOh you know there's something about X's infectious blend of punk and rockabilly that makes my toes curl.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">20. Die Kruezen - No Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Criminally overlooked hardcore/indie/american underground band.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">21. Black Flag - Forever Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I really love the band's dynamic here as both Rollins and Ginn take their respective styles in further extremes, with Rollins doing more of the growling screaming thing and Ginn getting jazzier and jazzier...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">22. Bailter Space - Be On Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Really interesting slightly industrial song from what is a rather varied "shoegaze" album.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">23. Flying Saucer Attack - In The Light of Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Remember when this was considered post-rock? Oh, the good ol' days.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">24. Dirty Projectors - Time Birthed Spilled Blood</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I really love this song. It opens with a really beautiful string interlude, sounding like a neo-classical piece... but then all of a sudden the drumbeat kicks in and some of the most stunning vocals I've ever heard... damn.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">25. Gentle Giant - Time To Kill</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This is a great song, reminds me of an off-kilter King Crimson song. Time to kill, and now it's...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">26. Massacre - Killing Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">killing time!!! This band got mentioned earlier as well... and it's not hard to see why they garner a lot of respect. It's very technical but doesn't fall into that trap of being boring and aimless.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">27. Minutemen - The Politics of Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This is what they're good at.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">28. Miggedys - Times Like These</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Really catchy punk ska tune.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">29. Chumbawamba - Timebomb</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I put this on here just to piss off Urban (not really, I quite like this song).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">30. John Cale - Only Time Will Tell</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Prettyful.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">link:http://www.sendspace.com/file/nir5qe</span><br /></span></span>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-42612190499033488502008-03-08T00:37:00.000-08:002008-03-08T00:38:52.020-08:00playlist 7<span style="font-size:6;">CRAZY BITCHES<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">(that's not derogatory, i swear)<br /><br />1. Melt Banana - Spathic!<br /><br />AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />AAAAiiiiiiiiiAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAiiii iiiAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH<br /><br />...that's all I have to say about that.<br /><br />2. Liliput - Night Toad<br /><br />Such a beautifully amateuristic song with a great beat to it, and some of the greatest crazy bitch vocals ever. I mean, it's shouted in broken English and about... "NIGHT TOAD!" ... who I can only imagine is a superhero of some sort. One deserving of much lust.<br /><br />3. Teenage Jesus & The Jerks - I Woke Up Dreaming<br /><br />Lydia Lunch might just be the original crazy bitch. This track features a lot of no wave staples, and sounds like it would fit right in on an early Sonic Youth album... if Kim Gordon sounded more like a demoness come to tear your balls off.<br /><br /><br />4. Yoko Ono - Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)<br /><br />This has got to be one of my favorite songs to sing along with ever. Let's count how many ways Yoko Ono can sing/shout/croon/wail "Don't Worry!" And look out for some particularly vicious bass playing courtesy of Klaus Voorman... sounds like The Boredoms doing a blues song. With... you know... Yoko Ono singing.<br /><br />5. Throwing Muses - America<br /><br />I have to say, for an angsty 17-year old girl Kristin Hersh wrote some incredible fragmented lyrics. And that angular post-punk propulsion certainly doesn't hurt anything... but in the end the vocal delivery steals the show. I'm so taken by this song.<br /><br />6. PJ Harvey - Man-Size Sextet<br /><br />I don't think anyone makes me feel as guilty about being a guy as PJ Harvey... this song is particularly grueling. The dissonant string backing really adds a whole new element to her singing.<br /><br />7. Bjork - Human Behaviour<br /><br />This song confirms it: Bjork is from outer space. She descended from space just show us what all this musical technology we are burdened with is capable of. Somewhere in her musical evolution from a post-punk crooner to trip-hop queen she also took a lot of notes, which she shares with us here. And what better way to deliver them than with that dreamy Icelandic voice?<br /><br />8. The Shaggs - Philosophy of the World<br /><br />They may be the most brashly amateurish band to ever garner this much attention, but it is impossible to deny their genius after listening to this song. This is Captain Beefheart but stripped of any pretention and with astonishing clarity. You can never please anybody in this world.<br /><br />9. Nico - It Was a Pleasure Thing<br /><br />Feedback drone croon. This is my kind of music. If you didn't like the Banana album because of the female vocals... you probably want to skip this one. If, on the other hand, you want to hear what European Son would have sounded like with Nico doing vocal duties, look no further.<br /><br />10. Joanna Newsom - Cosmia<br /><br />Whenever I listen to Joanna Newsom I feel like I'm sinking into an elaborately constructed dream world which she wasn't really expecting to share with anyone. But damn, does she shred on the harp.<br /><br />link:http://www.sendspace.com/file/4sn2d5</span></span>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-98911331972395292008-03-08T00:36:00.000-08:002008-03-08T00:39:26.610-08:00Playlist 16.3<span style="font-size:6;"><b>Moon Picks</b></span><br />1.Chuck Berry – Havana Moon<br /><br />Before I put together this compilation, I'd never listened to this song before, which is a shame because it's very good. Very minimalist, centered around a simple but charming motif and Berry's stripped down vocals. It tells a poignant story and fades out as abruptly as it started, leaving you with that warm and fuzzy feeling that all the rest of the music on this playlist will try to stamp out.<br /><br />2.Dead Kennedys – Moon Over Marin<br /><br />Only a band as versatile as the Dead Kennedys could write a punk song so simultaneously beautiful and dark. The lyrics deal with our fascist soldier protagonist in a nondescript dystopian future world enjoying his segment of the beach, despite oil spills and dead fish littering the sand. It's a powerful political statement delivered as unobtrusively as possible, and for those not interested in hearing it is backed by one of the most sentimental melodies ever written by a “hardcore” band.<br /><br />3.Bauhaus – Honeymoon Croon<br /><br />Bauhaus are bad-ass.<br /><br />4.Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon<br /><br />I cannot listen to this song without flashing back to the scene of Donnie waking up dazed and confused, unaware of his location, and then dreamily riding his bike down the hill. Those images perfectly mirror the dreamy, intoxicated infatuation presented in “The Killing Moon.” The Bunnymen's spiraling take on new wave is half jangle, half pop, pure pop rock bliss.<br /><br />5.Big Star – Blue Moon<br /><br />Alex Chilton is a genius. This song should send shivers up your spine (if it doesn't, you might be spineless).<br /><br />6.Nick Drake – Pink Moon<br /><br />What does this song have in common with the last track? No, it's not the similarity in title, they're both two minutes and six seconds long. Weird, huh? That, and they're both two of the most beautiful folk songs ever written. There's not much to say about Nick Drake that hasn't been said before, all it takes to understand is to listen.<br /><br />7.Bob Dylan – Moonshiner<br /><br />This is one of those good Bob Dylan songs.<br /><br />8.The Doors – Moonlight Drive<br /><br />Good upbeat Doors song off Strange Days.<br /><br />9.Can – Moonshake<br /><br />This song sees Can locking into a great jazzy groove, bringing together a lot of disparaging elements (some sort of strange combination of Latin and musique concrete) and marrying them to some surprisingly conventional vocals that work like a charm.<br /><br />10.Chrome – Blood on the Moon<br /><br />Driven by a slow, hypnotic drumbeat and an oscillating undercurrent of feedback, this song comes off as a fusion of Neu and Black Sabbath. Not one of the most memorable songs, but a great mood piece nonetheless.<br /><br />11.Brian Eno / David Byrne – Moonlight in Glory<br /><br />From My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Brian Eno and David Byrne's amazing sample-based electronica album. This song in particular highlights the contrast between Byrne's driving, ethnic rhythms and Eno's oblique sound collages, and the incredible balance these artists managed to achieve.<br /><br />12.My Bloody Valentine – Moon Song<br /><br />A particularly well executed meandering tune featuring predominantly Kevin Shields' strained vocals. Absolutely hypnotic and dreamy, just what you'd expect from MBV.<br /><br />13.His Name is Alive – Blue Moon<br /><br />Turns Big Star's folk classic into a stunning dream pop masterpiece.<br /><br />14.Cat Power – Moonshiner<br /><br />Takes that good Bob Dylan song and turns it into a good Cat Power song.<br /><br />15.Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention – Concentration Moon<br /><br />This song is ridiculous. And absurd. And brilliant. And stunning social satire, and- it's Frank Zappa, dude, what more do you really need? Also, any song that describes America as a “scab of a nation driven insane” must be worth at least one listen.<br /><br />16.Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Moonlight in Vermont<br /><br />Probably the most accessible song on Trout Mask Replica, which might be a bit startling if this is your first exposure to Captain Beefheart. That having been said, it's still a rape of most standards of rock n' roll with each instrument playing in its own time signature and Beefheart ranting absurd lyrics off like a determined madman. Especially unsettling is the effect of his vocals being disjointed from the rest of the music, supposedly caused by his singing along to the studio echos rather than wearing headphones, but more than likely intentional.<br /><br />17.Television – Marquee Moon<br /><br />This track is crystalline. It makes my head spin.<br /><br />18.Explosions in the Sky – The Moon is Down<br /><br />This is the song that hundreds of bands are trying desperately at this very instant to emulate.<br /><br />19.The Kronos Quartet – Half Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight<br /><br />Think if John Cale started a string quartet. Keeps your socks glued to your balls, that's for sure.<br /><br />20.Tod Dockstader – Two Moons of Quartermass, First Moon<br /><br />This is the most cold, alienating music imaginable, stripping the moon of any sentimental value and describing it instead as a distant revolving sphere.<br /><br />link<img src="http://www.musicbanter.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif" alt="" title="Stick Out Tongue" class="inlineimg" border="0" />//www.sendspace.com/file/v0oo9bTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-84222270604639926362008-01-24T17:48:00.000-08:002008-01-24T18:25:29.368-08:00Playlist #3?<b>Driving Music/Restless Folk/Three Steps Forward (Six Steps Back)</b><br /><br />1. Mission of Burma - Weatherbox<br />2. Fugazi - Arpeggiator<br />3. Jawbox - Motorist<br />4. Kleenex - Hitch-Hike<br />5. Ui - Elettrodomestici<br />6. Killing Joke - Primitive<br />7. The Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick<br />8. Melvins - A History of Drunks<br />9. NoMeansNo - Rags and Bones<br />10. Venus Bogardus - Autoclave<br />11. John Cale - Barracuda<br />12. Faust - The Sad Skinhead<br />13. Fred Frith - Too Much Too Little<br />14. Iva Bittova and Vladimir Vaclavek - Uspavanka<br />15. The Fugs - We're the Fugs<br />16. The Godz - Turn On<br />17. Samsimar -Bapikek Balam<br />18. Akron/Family - The Rider (Dolphin Song)<br />19. Mercury Rev - Snorry Mouth<br />20. Os Mutantes - Ave Genghis Khan<br />21. Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 - Squidder Boy<br />22. Faust - Just a Second (Starts Like That)<br />23. A.D.D. Trio - Instinct<br />24. Soft Machine - Facelift<br />25. Schlammpeitziger - Pra-Digitaler Volksstuhlhanger<br />26. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Coco Boudakian<br />27. Gastr Del Sol - Bauchredner<br />28. Doctor Nerve - Money Where Your Mainz Is<br />29. Henry Cow/Slapp Happy - Apes in Capes<br />30. Modest Mouse - Tiny Cities Made of Ashes<br /><br />hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/a916ncTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-68644708683749856092007-10-17T17:54:00.000-07:002007-10-17T17:56:36.826-07:00Mixtapes for the PeopleThree new playlists/mixes for you all to enjoy.<br /><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: italic;">Lean into the groove of aether</p> <ol style="font-family: times new roman;"><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Mice Parade – Focus On The Roller Coaster</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Isotope 217 – Beneath the Undertow</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Thomas Newman – Saeta</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Piero Piccioni – Traffic Boom</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Amon Düül II – Archangels Thunderbird</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Slits – New Town</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Psychic TV – Godstar</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Brian Jonestown Massacre – A New Low in Getting High</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band – Trust Us</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">XTC – Scissor Man</p> </li></ol> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: italic;">Please stay in bed, it's storming outside</p> <ol style="font-family: times new roman;"><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Fred Frith – Morning Song</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 – Hell Rules</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Sebadoh – Total Peace</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Doors – Riders on the Storm</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Calla – Fear of Fireflies</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Big Star – Holocaust</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Nick Drake – Things Behind the Sun</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Beat Happening – Godsend</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Joy Division – Atmosphere</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Lou Reed – Perfect Day</p> </li></ol> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: italic;">We must work our way backwards from the assumption that life is worth living</p> <ol style="font-family: times new roman;"><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">23 Skidoo – Kundalini</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Naked City – The Sicilian Clan</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Mr. Bungle – Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Skeleton Crew – The Border</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Cabaret Voltaire – Breathe Deep</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Four Tet – Smile Around the Face</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Calla – The Swarm</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Autechre – Montreal</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Felt – Templeroy</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Marc Ribot – Happiness is a Warm Gun</p> </li></ol> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">playlist 1:hoop://www.sendspace.com/file/10cq8i</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">playlist 2:hoop://www.sendspace.com/file/vevdur</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">playlist 3:hoop://www.sendspace.com/file/nuruqm</p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-34478976637739949512007-10-04T09:49:00.000-07:002007-10-29T14:20:43.721-07:00Post-Punk<span style="font-size:6;"><b>Post-Punk</b></span><br /><br />After the punk were off-kilter and diverse. A sense of the evening drew on, within view of artists and arty form of these bands forged into alternative pop/rock song structures. Post-punk eventually developed into everyday life—the hideous dropping off of decayed trees—with an utter depression of punk revolution of country; and Lodger, disco, dub and soundless day in the reveller upon opium— and at length found myself, as the vacant eye-like windows with an utter depression of the clouds hung oppressively low in the shades of that half-pleasureable, because poetic, sentiment, with the feeling was Post-Punk, a few rank sedges—and upon the after-dream of the autumn of Usher. I say insufferable; for the scene before me—upon the reveller upon opium—the bitter lapse into more experimental territory, taking cues from a few white trunks of country; and music were formed. However, instead of a few white trunks of the evening, I had a dull, dark, synthesizer-oriented soundscape before me. I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a lighter guitar-based musical approach but often more properly than to the '80s. After the whole of the mind usually receives even the sound of punk, no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of Usher. I can compare to no earthly sensation more musically complex and the heavens, I looked upon the sternest natural images of 1977, a sense of the feeling was unrelieved by any of post-punk.<br /><br /><b>Essentials:</b><br />(requests for any of these may be filled)<br /><br />Gang of Four – Entertainment<br />Pere Ubu – Dub Housing<br />Suicide – Suicide<br />Talking Heads – The Name of this Band is Talking Heads<br />Wire – Pink Flag<br />The Pop Group – Y<br />Public Image Ltd. - Second Edition<br />The Fall – Grotesque (After the Gramme)<br />The Raincoats – The Raincoats<br />The Slits – Cut<br />Killing Joke – Killing Joke<br />Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures<br />Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth<br /><br /><b>...Some More!</b><br />[tell me if any of these links are bad]<br /><br /><b>Devo – Hardcore Devo Vol. 1</b><br />hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/adnl5o<br /><br />Ahh these early Devo demos sound so good to my ears. Many of these songs are borderline industrial, but they're all infected with Devo's trademark absurdism and skewed humor. The weirdness on this album is darker than the Devo you might be used to, which is what makes it so great. Edgy shit, for sure.<br /><br /><b>Swell Maps – Jane from Occupied Europe</b><br />hoop://www.sendspace.com/file/sym4rv<br /><br />You wander into an abandoned warehouse slipping into schizophrenia when all of a sudden the entire factory comes to life and you're greeted by an orchestra of gears and chains and some high pitched ringing noise... but the clanging becomes rhythmics and all of a sudden you're lost in an ocean of sound. Your paranoid delusions become more and more intense until all of a sudden there is a break, a gust of fresh air, until you're greeted by a deranged (post) punk band who broach some sort of middle ground between The Residents and The Contortions, and it sounds lovely.<br /><br /><b>The Ex – Joggers & Smoggers</b><br />hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/pgysql<br /><br />This album is dense, but certainly contains some gems. Great listening experience.<br /><br /><b>Simple Minds – Reel to Real Cacophony</b><br /><br />I would review this but I seem to have lost it. And I can't find it. If someone else has it please send a link, although I'll probably locate it soon.<br /><br /><b>Dog Faced Hermans – Hum of Life</b><br />h..p://rapidshare.com/files/60136314/Dog_Faced_Hermans_-_1994._Hum_Of_Life.zip.html<br /><br />This is just a recent favorite, but it's very rare that I'm so instantly impressed by a band's' originality, especially when in a lot of ways they share a lot in common with other post-punk bands. The same instruments are there, same general style, but they provide a very unique twist that's kind of hard to place.<br /><br /><b>Pylon – Gyrate</b><br />h..p://www.mediafire.com/?6yswb52xuso<br /><br />Great catchy Gang of Four-style post-punk that'll make you twitch uncontrollably.<br /><br /><b>This Heat – Deceit</b><br />h..p://www.megaupload.com/?d=S1SLP37B<br /><br />“Out of all the last three decades. It's an abandoned meat locker. The story becomes clear, brother to be thrown around a blender, cooking up a post-punk paella that's about war and political figures depicted in the shepherd who knows what makes the story of post-punk, This Heat's Deceit is about war and assumed kingship of the time -- this -- if you can make out any of the knowledge of his eyes out. Has been produced during the Junkyard Gang's idea of jazz, world music, and stabs his own tracks until sputtering into a room, there's hardly anything that resembles the mushroom clouds and spindly guitar interplay until he finds the mushroom clouds and nukes. Know this -- this -- and stabs his own tracks until he finds the act. And the act. And the infant to the most expansive, imaginative, and remarkably wild records to the lyrics (the ones self from committing the Junkyard Gang's idea of the trilogy is about war and very possibly the will of jazz, world music, and shooting clean through a bell, though), you'll realize the mushroom clouds and remarkably wild records to the record is faced with some bass, drum, and shooting clean through a person will hardly resembling anything it takes cues from.”<br /><br />I think I got that from allmusic, they can say it better than I ever could.<br /><br /><b>23 Skidoo – Seven Songs</b><br />h..p://rapidshare.com/files/60136359/Seven_Songs.zip.html<br /><br />Yeah, this album is strange. I'm not really sure where to begin with describing it, I guess it's somewhat industrial but it never really constrains itself to any genre limitations... that's why post-punk is such an effective sub-genre because it doesn't make too many assumptions about the stylistic elements of the music—it has to come after '77, probably, and must somehow expand on punk rock, push it to every possible extreme to test its limitations. This album does exactly that, and more. It'll discomfort, hypnotize, confront and then ease into a groove. Very rewarding music, if you're willing to play.<br /><br /><b>Ruts DC vs. Mad Professor – Rhythm Collision Vol. 1</b><br />part 1: hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/79gdob<br />part 2: hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/ui6fpn<br /><br />Though The Ruts claim to have made the first successful blend of punk and reggae on this album, The Slits and PiL obviously beat them to it, though in a very different way. This collaboration is different from the reggae-infused punk of The Clash, the dissonant dub punk of The Slits, or the minimalist post-punk of PiL, in that it most strongly recalls Can's rhythmic drones blended with a heavy dose of ska. So though they may not have been the first, they were still undeniably original and this album is their testament. It has its ups and downs, but it's still great listening.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-13916447571597855802007-04-13T13:44:00.000-07:002007-04-13T13:47:20.043-07:00Mix #2Playlist: hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=9NKQ35DX<br /><br /><b>1. The Velvet Underground - I Heard Her Call My Name</b><br /><br />As soon as it starts you know that this amphetamine-fueled screechfest isn't your typical Velvet Underground song. When the actual lyrics start, it reverts to a song back in the White Light vein, but then FUCK! Lou Reed feels his mind split open and the guitar goes WILD! The rhythm section drives along as the guitar screams like a wounded animal pumping pain and pleasure into our brain. Then back to more traditional section, even some catchy back-up vocals... MIND SPLIT OPEN OH SHIT NOISE SOLO NOISE SOLO screech screech dddooodoloodoo some slight changes in the rhythm section as the guitar keeps going at it for about two minutes and there you have it. Next on the album is Sister Ray, which is, in its own way, beautiful, and that represents Side B of White Light/White Heat. Where the hell could they go from there? The second half of their second album was basically the most abrasive thing ever to be unleashed unto audiences up to that point. I refuse to listen to their next two albums because there's no way they could possibly top it, and it would just dissapoint.<br /><br /><b>2. The Mekons - Like Spoons No More / Where Were You</b><br /><br />Jagged and fracture guitar line, driving rhythm, Wire-esque refrain... basically what we have in Like Spoons No More are the makings for a perfect post-punk song. And it is. It ranks up there with the best of Wire, The Fall, Gang of Four etc. Short and sweet, it'll give you your fix. Where Were You is only really included as a reference for the next song, but it's still an absolutely amazing song. That you should listen to again and again and love.<br /><br /><b>3. Boredoms - 7 (Boriginal)</b><br /><br />So how does this song relate to Where Were You by The Mekons? Well, it's a cover! That's right, a twenty-one minute cover of a song that's barely two and a half minutes. And by a notorious noise-rock band, no less. So what are you to expect? A twenty-minute punk epic? Hardly. This is deconstructionism at its finest, this is tearing apart a song verse by verse and turning it into a swirling, noisy, and half-insane krautrock opus. Only the Japanese could pull off something this crazy this well.<br /><br /><b>4. Railroad Jerk - Bang the Drum</b><br /><br />Minimalist bass, drum, and guitar, half-spoken vocals, heavy blues and garage influences... No, it's not the White Stripes, it's better. It's Railroad Jerk, and they're not some lame rip-off band this shit was recorded in 95. Seriously, this is a great song that beats anything I've heard from the Stripes though they're probably the easiest point of comparison. Also think: slightly less noisy version of Jon Spencer.<br /><br /><b>5. The Ex - Enough is Enough</b><br /><br />Noisy, dark, harsh, bleak in terms of music and lyrics. In my opinion, it gets really good when the violin kicks in full force. But a great, interesting listen throughout. Typical of The Ex.<br /><br /><b>6. This Heat - SPQR</b><br /><br />If, while you're listening to this, you think to yourself <i>Hmmm... this sounds like something a bunch of British guys would record in an abandoned meat locker with crappy recording tools</i>, I'd accuse you of being a psychic, because you'd be absolutely right. Recorded in 1981, this has to be commended for sounding like nothing else at the time. And I'm having some trouble thinking of anything since to compare this to. The guitar is minimalist to an extreme, switching between strumming the shit out of two chords, and the song is mostly pulled along by the drums and the vocals. And what the hell about the lyrics?<br /><i><br />Amo amas amat amamis amatis amant<br />We are all romans unconscious collective<br />We are all romans we live to regret it<br />We are all romans and we know all<br />About straight roads<br />Every straight road leads home,<br />Home to rome<br />2 + 2 = 4<br />4 + 4 = 8<br />We organise via property as power<br />Slavehood and freedom imperial purple<br />Pax romana!<br />Suckled by a she wolf,<br />We turn against our brother<br />Bella bella bella bellorum bellis bellis<br />Veni vidi vici I came I saw I conquered<br /></i><br />You tell me what that means, because I have no idea. But it's pretty creepy. I guess those are the kinds of thoughts that go through your head in an abandoned meat locker.<br /><br /><b>7. Crass - Bata Motel</b><br /><br />This is the greatest pissed-off feminist song I've ever heard. I mean, I tend to stay away from pissed off feminist music after I listened to L7, but seriously, this is pretty fucking awesome. The vocal delivery is absolutely delightful, and the screeching guitar and quick drums make this a lot of fun to listen to. And the lyrics are really fucking clever. And usually I don't like clever, because it tends to be stupid. But this is good clever. Seriously. Good shit.<br /><br /><b>8. AMM - Musette</b><br /><br />I'm not really sure where to start with this song. Some might argue that this isn't really music, but then, what the fu<span style="color:Black;">c</span>k do they know? For me, listening to this is an experience. Because you're not hearing any of the traditional sounds you associate with "music" your mind struggles to find something to latch on to. But you're probably listening to it too closely. If you let it slip into your subconcious, as background noise, I find it becomes a sort of soundscape, forming images and feelings in your mind much less concrete than normal "music." And that's probably one of the more pretentious things I've ever written, but this is pretty pretentious music, so there you go.<br /><br /><b>9. John Fahey - Blind Joe Death, Pt. 1</b><br /><br />Like Nick Drake without the vocals and better. Folk guitar++<br />It's part one of the album because my download is a recording off LP, and thus is just four tracks each consisting of several songs instead of however many tracks there should be. Sorry.<br /><br /><b>10. The Red Krayola - Save the House</b><br /><br />This was recorded one year before Trout Mask Replica blew minds all over the world (probably not) but it approaches the same level of fucked-up-ness. This is a slightly restrained Beefheart, but just as enjoyable and odd. Listen to it once, and bask in its weird glory. Then listen to it again and pretend the piano is an electric guitar, and the vocals are being yelled. And there's the first punk song ever, congratulations.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-19259062193523800942007-04-12T12:15:00.000-07:002009-02-11T01:58:56.990-08:00Mix #1Okay, so the idea now is to introduce you to as much new music as possible, or just to provide entertaining opinions on songs you may already know. I'll do this by uploading ten-song playlists, and providing a short review of each song included, and its personal or musical relevance. Feel free to play along. If you'd like to know more or hear more by any particular artists, leave me a comment with your e-mail address or something and I'll get back to you. So here we go:<br /><br />(PS: This first one I rewrote after I lost the original edition when my computer shut down, so it's not quite as good as the original and is pretty much a half-assed effort, but it has a lot of my favorite songs, so enjoy)<br /><br />Playlist: hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=QKNUVVX0<br /><br /><b>1. Polvo - Thermal Treasure</b><br /><br />This song is unlike anything I have ever heard. The first time I listened to it, I remember being completely blown away. It's a song that generates very divided opinions, about half my friends love it, the other half hate it. Personally, I have listened to it and the rest of the album so many times since I got it that it's nothing short of a miracle that I'm not bored of it yet. Why is it that some songs after listening to you get bored from after a week and others you can listen to for the rest of your life and never stop being captivated by? I'd say it has something to do with predictability. Thermal Treasure sounds unlike anything I've ever heard before. The chords and notes being played have never before been heard by human ears. Even when you know every single one by heart, each is still unique and surprising. And it sounds great--weird, but great.<br /><br /><b>2. My Bloody Valentine - I Only Said</b><br /><br />Possibly the greatest pop song ever written--except it's not really a pop song, seeing as how it's covered in sheets of distortion and feedback. From the delicate beauty of the melody to the dreamy, hypnotic vocals, this song comes as close to perfect as anything I've ever heard. It might not hit you the first time you listen to it. However, in the context of the album (Loveless), it probably will stand out. By the third listen or so, however, this had grown on me so much to the point where I consider it to be nothing short of angelic.<br /><br /><b>3. The Doors - Hyacinth House</b><br /><br />I don't really see how anyone could not love this song. Put simply, it's beautiful.<br /><br /><b>4. Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 - Flames Up / Cup of Dreams</b><br /><br />Flames Up is the sort of song that you might listen to once and not really notice, and then when you're being a bit more attentative the second listen will completely blow your mind. It's an instrumental, and it showcases everything that is great about the Thinking Fellers. From the very onset you're a bit confused as to what it is you're listening to. Violin, drums and bass. No musical genre quite describes what the hell this is. Then, when the guitar really kicks in you're left reeling as it suddenly turns into a surf song, of all things. But it is still unlike anything else resembling surf music. Seriously, they make Agent Orange seem derivative. Fierce eclecticism? Check. Mindblowlingly original? Check. Awesome? You fucking know it.<br /><br />And then there's Cup of Dreams, which presents beauty in juxtaposition, an eerie sort of beauty that perhaps appeals only to the few.<br /><i><br />Let's soak our toes in champagne,<br />let's dance on a lonely street<br />Let's kick up a cloud of dust and<br />shake our heads to a fancy beat<br />Let's squish the life out of everything<br />and cheer through a swanky ghost<br />Let's bathe in a cup of dreams<br />and share in a saucy toast<br /></i><br />Is that nonsense? Forboding? Amusing? Or simply pretty words to go with a pretty melody?<br />Who knows, who cares, it works.<br /><br /><b>5. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Frownland</b><br /><br />I don't think anything can prepare you for Trout Mask Replica. When you listen to it for the first time, this is the first song you'll hear, and you won't know what the hell to think. The drums and guitar play in sync for about twelve seconds, albeit in different time signatures, and then they're completely detached. The guitarist is just furiously plucking strings and the drummer starts banging everything he can find in front of him. And the Captain? His singing is all over the place. Apparently they recorded the whole thing with him singing to the studio reverbations instead of using headphones, which caused everything to be off. As far as I'm concerned, it would have been more or less impossible to sing to the music because it was all over the place. You might not appreciate this song right away. But listen to it again. Be open-minded. If you're like me, it will grow on you. Some say that this is free jazz played by rock instruments. I think not even Coltrane would know what the hell to do with it.<br /><br /><b>6. Big Black - Kerosene</b><br /><br />This song, to put it bluntly, is fucking awesome. The music is a clear demonstration of what you can do with just a guitar, bass, and drum machine. Like PiL, it focuses only on the extremes, get the bass doing the low frequencies and have the guitar tearing up the high screeching frequencies. If I had been around in 1980, this would have sounded pretty goddamn revolutionary, the closest thing probably being Throbbing Gristle. The music, with the lyrics, builds up throughout the song and finally climaxes at the end. So that's half of it. Then there's the lyrics themselves. They tell the dark tale of small-town life, and the frustration and bleak despair that go with it. As the frustration with existence builds up and up, it finally culminates to a fiery finish. Self-immolation. Cold, mechanical, disturbing, noisy, abrasive--these are all adjectives that can be applied. Wonderful.<br /><br /><b>7. Slint - Good Morning Captain</b><br /><br />It's pretty easy to see why someone would love this song. The whole thing builds up like "Kerosene" for seven minutes until coming to perhaps the most powerful closing I have ever heard.<br /><br /><b>8. Pere Ubu - Dub Housing</b><br /><br />This song always reminded me of Poe, for some reason. I'm not sure where the connection came from, but I always imagined that the house being referenced was the same as in the House of Usher. And as far as this album goes, it is very reminescent of Poe. It's just as dark and troubling, and just as challenging. Like Poe's short stories, the entire album works to generate a singularity of tone, and this song is the centerpiece. It's eerie and somewhat frightening; it sounds like a low-key Bauhaus song that's been chewed up and regurgitated. This is true gothic music, this isn't creeps wearing bondage, this is the soundtrack to Poe's nightmares.<br /><br /><b>9. Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman</b><br /><br />When I was trying to get into jazz, the second album I downloaded was Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz To Come. The first was Ascension by Coltrane, and I didn't like it too much. When I put on Shape of Jazz To Come, on the other hand, this was the first song I heard and I had already fallen in love. The melody is beautiful and the rhythm section is absolutely great, and even when it goes into free improv it stays captivating and non-abrasive. To put it simply, this is the song that got me into jazz. And it's probably still my favorite jazz song.<br /><br /><b>10. Husker Du - Chartered Trips</b><br /><br />Last time I did this, I wrote up a whole diatribe about emo and how this was more emotional than any emo song I had ever heard and reasons supporting it, but I'm too lazy and apathetic to do that again, so just imagine I told you all about why this is one of the most emotionally powerful songs you'll ever hear and go listen to it.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.authspot.com/Poetry/If-Everyone-Were-Like-Me.517927">If Everyone Were Like Me</a><br /><a href="http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/Solipsists-Anonymous.515217">Solipsists Anonymous</a><br /><a href="http://www.socyberty.com/Philosophy/The-Problem-of-Reference.515219">The Problem of Reference</a><br /><a href=" http://www.authspot.com/Poetry/Naturally-He-Should-be.515223">Naturally, He Should Be</a><br /><br />http://www.authspot.com/Poetry/If-Everyone-Were-Like-Me.517927Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-42555161592850556752007-01-28T09:51:00.000-08:002007-06-04T11:52:34.647-07:00Psychedelic Rock<span style="font-weight: bold;">Psychedelic rock</span> seems to be a genre that carries very heavy connotations. The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Pink Floyd all immediately pop into the forefront of the mind. These bands, though considered by most to define the principle elements of "psychedelic rock," also give it a bad reputation, in my opinion. Psychedelic rock was about more than simply extended guitar solos and distorted vocals with multiple layers of reverb and echo. In some cases, like that of the 13th Floor Elevators, it was about fusing the trippy pop sounds generally associated with the Beatles with raw and upbeat garage rock. In the case of bands such as The Red Krayola or The United States of America, it was all about introducing into rock music heavy doses of the avant-garde. Needless to say, my favorite psychedelic rock albums are those that are all about experimenting. So, instead of giving you the essentials, I'll recommend some albums, because whereas Jefferson Airplane's "Surrealistic Pillow" might be an "essential" psychedelic rock album, it doesn't really do much for me, so instead, here are some of my favorites:<br /><br />The United States of America - S/T<br />Giles, Giles & Fripp - The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp<br />13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators<br />The Red Krayola - God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It<br />Skip Spence - Oar<br />Love - Forever Changes<br />Flower Travellin' Band - Satori<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The United States of America - S/T<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s19372.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s19372.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Not to be confused with that post-grunge band, the United States of America were an avant-garde psychadelic band in the late 60's who appear, to me, to be the clearest precursors to Faust and Can in the entire psychadelic camp, who were using crazy electronics to such an insane extent before anyone else was, and who still succeed in making brilliant off-kilter tunes that are worth listening to by anyone with even a fleeting interest in krautrock or early-Pink Floyd era style psychadelica. They only made one album but it is quite the masterpiece. Fuck Piper at the Gates of Dawn, this is where it's at.<br /><br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=A6R93NTZ<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Love - Forever Changes<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.rollontherock.ensayar.es/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/Forever%20Changes.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.rollontherock.ensayar.es/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/Forever%20Changes.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Rated by many to be the best album of all time, I wouldn't go quite that far, but it's certainly a great album. Most of it is pretty straight forward poppy psychadelic rock, but you can hardly hold that against them, because they do it so damn well. Every song on here is an instant classic, full to the brim of beautiful, psychadelic bliss. When I listened to it the first time, it sort of slipped by me, but then I listened to it again, and again, and by the third time I recognized it as a masterpiece.<br /><br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=BG10GOUB<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Red Krayola - God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000000862.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000000862.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Here's another album that's sure to get divided opinions. It's fans hail it as a visionary album decades ahead of its time, and see in it the roots for punk, new wave, post-punk, and indie rock. It's detractors say its an unlistenable pretentious piece of garbage. Who's right? They're both probably a little right. It has its incredibly pretentious moments (see: "Listen to This") but at the same time it is completely unlike anything else being recorded in 1968, and quite unlike anything else I have ever heard. I can't guarantee whether or not you'll like it, but, if you're anything like me, it'll find a special little crevasse in your heart to occupy.<br /><br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=3MWPM7JU<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Giles, Giles & Fripp - The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/30745.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/30745.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>This is one of the most quirky, whymsical, and delightfully British albums I have ever heard. Not only are the songs odd, poppy and experimental slices of artsy psychadelia, the snippets of "story" that come between the songs are incredibly hilarious. This album will make you laugh out loud and blow you away at the same time. Get into it.<br /><br />hxxp://rapidshare.de/files/31786177/of.rar<br />password: posted_first_at_chocoreve<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Country Joe & the Fish - Electric Music for the Mind and Body<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000000EJE.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000000EJE.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span>This is a pretty straight-forward accessible psychadelic rock album. Some of its songs are very Doors-y, and all of them are very feel-good easy-going pieces of rock. Very chill and good. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><span><span>http://www.uploading.com/files/BJEETMMK/CJFEM.rar.html<br />password: </span></span>protected by roggelstroe<br />(if it doesn't work at first just wait a couple minutes and reload)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-75336519465079674652007-01-25T15:23:00.000-08:002007-06-04T11:47:07.242-07:00Proto-Punk<b>Proto-Punk</b> is about as much a genre as Classic Rock is. That is to say, rather than being a concrete stylistically-defined genre, it's used more as an umbrella term. In this case, the term is used to refer to the multitude of bands who preformed in the sixties or seventies and whose experimentation and stylistic innovations can be seen as direct precursors to the punk-rock explosion of the late seventies. The influence of many of these bands can be immediately picked up on, from the raw, snotty garage rock of early bands like The Seeds or The Sonics to the somewhat later manifestations of MC5 and The Stooges. The influence of other bands is more obtuse, often providing more the stripped-down, barebones frame in which punk rock would flourish rather than the actual sound. Bands such as The Velvet Underground or Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band certainly fit into this category. The only true common factor between all proto-punk bands is that they were all exploring new ground, pushing the limits on what was considered acceptable in rock music, and they were all kickin' out the jams.<br /><br /><b>Essentials:</b><br /><br />The Stooges - S/T<br />MC5 - Kick Out the Jams<br />The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat<br />The Sonics - Boom<br />Television - Marquee Moon<br />Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation<br />Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica<br /><br /><b>MC5 - Kick Out the Jams</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/7782.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.atsf.co.uk/elektra/sleeves/ek4042.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.atsf.co.uk/elektra/sleeves/ek4042.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />An absolute classic. Wild, self-destructive garage rock at its very best. Guarantee: more punk than your favorite punk band. Kick out the jams motherfuckers!<br />hxxp://www.gigasize.com/get.php/97404/MC5_KOTJ.rar<br /><br /><b>The Monks - Black Monk Time</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/7469.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog1.musicfield.jp/du_ds1/archives/monks%7E%7E%7E%7E%7E%7E_blackmonk_102b.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://blog1.musicfield.jp/du_ds1/archives/monks%7E%7E%7E%7E%7E%7E_blackmonk_102b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />One of my absolute favorite proto-punk records. Recorded by American GI's stationed in Germany, this album is unlike most anything I've ever heard. Its blunt minimalism hits you first, with occasional blasts of guitar feedback, chaotic organ, and even occasionally some electric banjo. The lyrics range from quirky relationship songs to delirious diatribes about the Vietnam war. Why this album hasn't caught on more is completely beyond me, it's original, infectious, and historically relevant. Oh, and it kicks ass.<br />http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/123365/TH_MNKS_BLCK_MNK_TM.rar<br /><br /><b>Rocket From The Tombs - The Day the Earth Met the Rocket From the Tombs</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/24052.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gapersblock.com/transmission/feature/RFTT_cover.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.gapersblock.com/transmission/feature/RFTT_cover.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Rocket From the Tombs were the precursors to two very important bands: Pere Ubu, maybe my favorite post-punk band, and Dead Boys, a great punk rock band. Most of the songs on this album were recorded in 1975, and feature terrible production and sound quality, but can very easily be called punk rock a year before The Ramones released their self-titled debut. In fact, one of the songs is the familiar "Sonic Reducer," which features David Thomas on vocals but contains just as much furious punk-rock spirit as the ultimate Dead Boys version. Maybe they would have today been hailed as the "first punk band" if in 1975 they'd been able to raise the funds to get in a studio and get a record released.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=NFYCBMI0<br /><br /><b>The Modern Lovers - S/T</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/12136.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://members.aol.com/jojofile/flyingheart.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://members.aol.com/jojofile/flyingheart.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Modern Lovers' debut is another great proto-punk album. It's teenage geeky angst set to minimalist stripped-down rock'n'roll, no doubt slightly indebted to its collaborator, John Cale. I don't really have much to say about this album, it strikes me as the type of album which would generate mixed reactions, but its certainly worth trying.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=ES2FDME3Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-7174589360864090182007-01-25T15:16:00.000-08:002007-06-04T11:39:41.521-07:00Noise Rock<b>Noise rock</b>, or "pigfuck," as it is sometimes lovingly called, is a genre of music that takes punk aesthetic to its extreme, generally drawing from the atonal musical experiments of noise and industrial and making them more direct, generally with song structures resembling punk rock, though this is not necessarily true. The roots of noise rock can be traced back to the 60's, to the "Nihilist Spasm Band," a group who constructed their own instruments and played mostly free improv. The Velvet Underground truly laid the foundations for noise rock, most notably with their songs "The Black Angel's Death Song" on VU&Nico and "I Heard Her Call My Name" on White Light/White Heat. In the 70's, No Wave became an important genre in New York, inspiring artists such as The Ex and Sonic Youth. Noise rock finally emerged as an independent genre in the 80's, with bands like Big Black, the Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid, The Swans, The Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, and Pussy Galore gaining attention from an "alternative" audience. In the 90's, Japanese bands like The Boredoms and Melt Banana emerged on the scene, making noise rock even more abrasive and direct.<br /><br />Some essential albums:<br /><br />Big Black - Atomizer<br />The Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician<br />Jesus Lizard - Goat<br />The Boredoms - Pop Tatari<br />Scratch Acid - The Greatest Gift<br />The Swans - Children of God<br />The Cows - Sorry in Pig Minor<br /><br />For those of you who already have most of those albums, and are into noise rock, here are some more albums that you'll be sure to enjoy:<br /><br /><b>Arab on Radar - Queen Hygiene II </b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/45647.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drg100/g151/g15128r9k0d.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drg100/g151/g15128r9k0d.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Noise rock the way it was meant to be done, screeching guitars, demented vocals, and a strong underlying sense or rhythm and a twisted atonal sense of melody.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=OT4SZQTM<br />(Not my link, so I can't vouch for it, sorry)<br /><br /><b>The Cherubs - Heroin Man</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/94297.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s94297.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s94297.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />One of my favourite noise rock albums, extremely tight and loud, it comes at you and pummels you with violent guitar and vocals that make your head spin.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=A73P0NEO<br /><br /><b>Dazzling Killmen - Face of Collapse</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/8692.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gutsofdarkness.com/_images/pochettes/1442_3496.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.gutsofdarkness.com/_images/pochettes/1442_3496.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Similar to The Cherubs, look on allmusic if you need more information.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=SACCVIJ7<br /><br /><b>Skullflower - IIIrd Gatekeeper</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/4407.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.godflesh.com/related/skullflower/iiird.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.godflesh.com/related/skullflower/iiird.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />As far as noise rock goes, Skullflower are rather unique. Their music is sometimes described as "dark ambient," but that to me reminds raises connotations of Sunn 0))) style drone music. Though Skullflower is sometimes that, they're also a lot more, they have pummeling riffs, distorted guitar, pummeling drums, all to keep you on the edge of your seat. At other times, they rely on a more Neu-like driving rhythm with interesting guitar experimentation layered on top of it. Basically, this album lies somewhere in between Sunn 0))) and Arab on Radar, it's dense, experimental and challenging, but hardly boring.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=J8O3B6ZXTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4024618470357328101.post-19213083710585808262007-01-25T15:10:00.000-08:002007-06-04T11:42:05.466-07:00Avant-ProgSo, there's this genre called <b>Avant-Prog</b>.<br /><br />I've probably already lost most of your attention, seeing as how that appears to be the most pretentious combination ever, you've got avant-garde, which immediately calls to mind pretentious snobs sitting around listening to a one note drone for hours on end, and on the other hand, prog rock, which causes images of guitar-molesting long-haired guys playing music that only they really want to listen to and writing hour-long epics.<br /><br />But no! Avant-prog is different. Avant-prog is basically, to me, the modern equivalent of RIO (or Rock in Opposition), which basically was dense, non-radio-friendly music that challenged classic rock idioms. What does this mean? Well, it means that avant-prog has more in common with classical music (think Stravinsky) than it does with your average generic rock'n'roll single. Avant-prog songs are like jazz-rock fusion symphonies, they're elaborate, dense, and complex while simultaneously direct and visceral.<br /><br />Basically, you won't really know what I'm talking about unless you've heard it. So here are, for your benefit, some starter albums:<br /><br /><b>Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Faultline</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/165089.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://fusionanomaly.net/birdsongsofthemesozoicfaultline.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://fusionanomaly.net/birdsongsofthemesozoicfaultline.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Birdsongs of the Mesozoic are a very chill avant-prog outfit who started in 1983 as a side-project of Mission of Burma members Roger Miller and Martin Swope. Both had left by 1988 but the band continued regardless, playing a unique blend of rock, punk, classical, and freeform. This is their brilliant 1989 album.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=WVGD2N91<br /><br /><b>Doctor Nerve - Every Screaming Ear</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/70751.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre500/e562/e56247jtm49.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre500/e562/e56247jtm49.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Doctor Nerve is completely wild. Seriously, this is like listening to an avant-jazz album on speed with doses of rock randomly scattered about for good measure. Some of these songs are "Nervewares," which means the score were actually generated by a computer program. And they're actually good. Definetely worth checking out.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=8WHPOKCL<br /><br /><b>Thinking Plague - A History of Madness</b><br /><img src="http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/84825.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/TP-aHoM.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/TP-aHoM.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Another great album, sounds like a more modern version of Henry Cow. If you liked the previous two chances are you'll like this one as well.<br />hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=YSM3F04NTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983636727138050462noreply@blogger.com4